Best money-saving veg to grow

[Monkey]

One of my primary motivations for gardening is to save some money on the supermarket veg shop, but quite often I find that by the time I've paid for compost etc, it's costing me as much, if not more, than just buying the stuff. So, what are everybody's tips about what to grow from a money perspective?

Mine are: lettuce. Definitely. The cut-and-come-again varieties are the best - if you keep on top of them (even if that means picking it to throw straight in the compost bin), you won't have to buy any for most of the summer.

Green beans of all varieties - runner, string, french, whatever. They are all absolutely brilliant. Again, as long as you keep picking them, they'll keep going and they work with pretty much any meal. They're also a good addition to any kind of stew or curry dish.

Tomatoes - dead simple and they can be cooked and frozen (or jarred) to be made into pasta sauce.

Courgettes - I never appreciated them until I grew them myself. As long as the weather holds, they keep going and, like beans, they go with pretty much everything. I griddle mine, but they can be oven roasted or used in a veg lasagne.

Bell Peppers (capsicum) - like tomatoes they just keep going and going and going ... I love stuffing them with tomatoes and olives and oven-roasting them.

What are your tips?

 

[ACSAPA]

I'm an apartment dweller and grow herbs and a couple of vegetables in containers. I think the vegetables that save me some money and require minimal space and fuss are green onions.
I use green onions for everything from Mexican food to Chinese food and they grow in a small pot and keep growing back every time I cut some off to use. Ginger and basil are also easy money savers.

 

[DancingLady]

I don't have much experience yet, but I am making plans for next year. Hopefully I will be able to grow my own lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes and at least a few herbs. I am not sure what else I plan to grow, but those are definitely top of the list. I am thinking about pole beans too because I already have a lattice built here that they can climb on.

 

[xTinx]

I don't really have specific tips in mind. Your suggestions were fine and I'd like to thank you for sharing them to us all. So now, I think I'm also going to share some of the best money-saving vegetables you might want to try growing yourself:
- onions (because they're relatively easy to grow)
- lentils (they grow fast and they don't cost much either)
- water spinach (likewise easy, easily grows by the dozen and friendly to your pocket)

 

[rah]

i love spring onion because they are easy to grow and are cost friendly too.

 

[kammy]

My favorite vegetables to grow have always been tomatoes, okras and bell peppers as the seeds are fairly cheap and these vegetables are very easy to maintain and does not require me to spend a lot of time tending to them.